THE MADRAS HARBOUR. 



75 



contractor, quarrying laterite ; and about the same number 

 under another native contractor are employed at and near 

 Pallaveram, 14 miles distant on the line of the South Indian 

 Railway, quarrying granite. The management of the quar- 

 ries is left almost entirely to the native contractors, who 

 simply supply the stone at so much per ton in the railway 

 waggons. It is good evidence of the merits both of the con- 

 tractors and of the superintendent that the same men have 

 carried on the contracts from the beginning and without any 

 serious or lasting dispute. When loaded into the railway 

 waggons, the stone is conveyed by the Railway Companies 

 to the north and south piers respectively. It is then removed 

 from the waggons in the most primitive manner conceivable, 

 being carried on the heads of coolies, men, women, and chil- 

 dren, to the steam hopper barges or cargo boats lying alongside 

 the pier. These steam hopper barges are the first articles of 

 special design which have come to our notice. They were 

 built on the Clyde in 1875-76, and steamed out to Madras 

 ma the Suez Canal. They differ from ordinary vessels in 

 having their holds made with false bottoms closed by strong 

 doors. These doors are, of course, closed while the vessel is 

 receiving its load and while it is transporting it to its desti- 

 nation, but when it has arrived at the required spot, as indi- 

 cated by buoys and landmarks, the chains holding the doors 

 are let go, and the load of stone drops to the bottom. Each 

 vessel carries about 130 tons. 



It was, of course, impossible to use these vessels till there 

 was a suitable wharf for them to come alongside to load, and 

 they could only discharge where there was sufficient depth of 

 water for them. In the earlier stages of the work, first cata- 

 marans, then masula boats, and afterwards the larger cargo 

 boats carrying about 12 tons each were employed, and these 

 latter are still kept on as auxiliaries. It may be imagined 

 that no small degree of system, care, and watchfulness is 



